The present invention relates to a fuel reforming device, and specifically, relates to a fuel reforming device suitable to reform fuel for internal combustion engines such as gasoline engines or diesel engines and the like used for motorcars or ships, and fuel for external combustion engines such as burners for boilers and the like.
In internal combustion engines or external combustion engines, for example, in internal combustion engines for motorcars and the like, it is desirable to reduce carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, or an exhaust smoke (called also as a black smoke or particles) and the like, and to improve the fuel consumption rate (called also as simply xe2x80x9cfuel consumptionxe2x80x9d). To satisfy these requirements, it is efficient to reform a fuel to be used, as well as to improve the combustion efficiencies of internal combustion engines or external combustion engines themselves.
As a device for reforming a fuel, a fuel reforming device is known wherein a carbon rod and a coil surrounding the periphery of the rod are disposed inside a fuel pipe wound spirally, both ends of the coil are connected to both ends of the fuel pipe, powder of a metal, a mineral and an oxide compound are filled between the fuel pipe and an inner wall of a housing, and they are solidified by a silicone resin (JP-A-HEI 10-77483).
According to this JP-A-HEI 10-77483, when the device was examinated using a motorcar, it is described that the fuel combustion volume was improved by 46%, and the exhaust volume was decreased to about 40% in NOx, to about 58% in HC, and to about 50% in CO in the exhaust gas, but the kinds of the motorcar and the conditions of the examination are not specified, and there is no description about an exhaust smoke.
In general, there is a trade-off relationship especially between the exhaust volume of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and the volume of exhaust smoke, a combustion method or a fuel reforming method for reducing both of them has not been found. Therefore, in the device proposed by the above-described JP-A-HEI 10-77483, it is considered particularly that the concentration of the exhaust smoke had increased.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fuel reforming device which can greatly reduce both of an exhaust smoke and nitrogen oxides having a trade-off relationship with each other, which can reduce other components such as carbon dioxide and the like, and which also can improve a fuel consumption rate.
To accomplish the above object, a fuel reforming device according to the present invention comprises a fuel lead-in pipe, a forward travel fuel-pipe communicated with the fuel lead-in pipe and wound spirally toward a first direction with a spiral diameter gradually decreasing, a flow direction reversing pipe for reversing the direction of fuel flow from the forward travel fuel pipe in a second direction opposite to the first direction, a backward travel fuel pipe communicated with the flow direction reversing pipe and wound spirally toward the second direction with a spiral diameter gradually increasing in a winding direction opposite to that of the forward travel fuel pipe, and a fuel lead-out pipe communicated with the backward travel fuel pipe, wherein a filler containing a silicon compound is placed around the forward travel fuel pipe, the flow direction reversing pipe and the backward travel fuel pipe.
The above-described filler comprises silicate compounds such as silicate dioxide and the like, or a mixture of it and other substances, and it is preferably formed as a formation of powder in order to be easily filled.
It is preferred that at least the forward travel fuel pipe and the backward travel fuel pipe are made from copper or a copper-system material (for example, brass).
Further, the forward travel fuel pipe and the backward travel fuel pipe are wound spirally at a substantially same position. For example, the backward travel fuel pipe is spirally wound inside the forward travel fuel pipe wound spirally.
Furthermore, in the fuel reforming device according to the present invention, the winding directions of the forward travel fuel pipe and the backward travel fuel pipe are different from each other. Especially, it is preferred that the forward travel fuel pipe is wound spirally in a clockwise direction toward the first direction, and the backward travel fuel pipe is wound spirally in a counterclockwise direction toward the second direction.
It is preferred that the ratio of the winding times of the forward travel fuel pipe to the winding times of the backward travel fuel pipe is any of 8xc2x10.5:5xc2x10.5, 13xc2x10.5:6xc2x10.5 and 27xc2x10.5:9xc2x10.5. In these ratios, a precise ratio of 8:5, 13:6 or 27:9 is more preferable.
Since the forward travel fuel pipe is wound toward the first direction with a spiral diameter gradually decreasing and the backward travel fuel pipe is wound toward the second direction with a spiral diameter gradually increasing, the respective pipes are wound so as to be formed as a schematic cone as a whole. In this cone-type winding, it is preferred that each of the pipes is wound so that the position of a vertex of the cone is eccentric relative to the position of the center of the base of the cone. Especially, the vertical sectional shape of the above-described cone is preferred to be formed as a shape along a right-angled triangle, and among such formations, it is preferred that the right-angled triangle has a dimensional ratio of 2:{square root over (3:1)}.
Although it is possible that the above-described flow direction reversing pipe is constructed by a simple pipe for reversing direction, it is preferred that a part of the flow path of the flow direction reversing pipe is formed by a crystal. To form the flow path made from a crystal makes it possible to further increase the fuel reforming effect by a contact reaction of a fuel and the crystal until the fuel reaches the backward travel fuel pipe from the forward travel fuel pipe.
It is preferred that a series of fuel pipes are contained in a tubular body, and the filler is filled in the tubular body. A shape of the tubular body is not particularly limited, but preferably the tubular body has a cross section of a polygon, for example, a hexagon.
Such a fuel reforming device is used particularly for reforming fuel for internal combustion engines. The kinds of internal combustion engines are not particularly restricted, and the device can be applied to both of a gasoline engine and a diesel engine. As for the engines, the device can be applied to an internal combustion engine not only for motorcars but also for ships and others. Further, the fuel reforming device according to the present invention can be applied for reforming fuel for not only internal combustion engines that use gasoline, kerosene, light oil and heavy oil and the like but also external combustion engines such as burners for boilers and the like.
In the fuel reforming device according to the present invention as described above, by disposing the fuel reforming device between a fuel tank and a combustion engine and merely passing fuel from a fuel tank through the fuel reforming device, the fuel can be reformed to reduce the exhaust volume of the exhaust smoke, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide, and to improve the fuel consumption rate. Especially, as shown in Examples described later, with respect to exhaust smoke and nitrogen oxides which have been considered to be in a trade-off relationship with each other, surprisingly, the volume of the exhaust smoke can be reduced down to substantially zero, while the exhaust volume of nitrogen oxides can be greatly reduced.